Are Home and Away about to write off Alf Stewart?

The actor who plays Home and Away favourite Alf Stewart has his contract up for renewal this year, and there's a chance he will be written out of the role.

Ray Meagher has played the beloved character Alf for three decades, and he is the only remaining original cast member.

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The show's writers are keeping Alf's future under wraps, and the actor himself seemed unsure of his fate in a recent TV Guide interview.

"Our show has a young bias so the younger actors are going to drive the majority of the stories and I think, as an older actor, if you get one good storyline or maybe two per year, you're doing pretty well," Meagher said.

"You are at the mercy of two things the writers and your contract date."

He told TV Guide that in a recent storyline where Alf fell to the bottom of a sinkhole, he was anxiously turning pages, wondering "Am I going to be on this page or not?"

The 73-year-old floated the possibility of his retirement, saying "That would be nice. You'd be able to do whatever you like... I just don't know how I'd go not having to do something."

He felt that the show would go on if he did leave, saying it's "resilient" and has "survived the departure of a number of characters that have been a lot more popular than Alf".